Neil MacBride, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (the
“Eastern District”), announced today the creation of the Virginia Financial and
Securities Fraud Task Force, which will coordinate with representatives from the
Securities and Exchange Commission, Commodity Futures Trading Commission, FBI,
Postal Service, Internal Revenue Service and state law enforcement agencies.
Joining MacBride at a news conference were high-level representatives from each
of these federal agencies as well as the Virginia attorney general and the
Virginia State Corporation Commission’s deputy general counsel for financial
services.

MacBride said that the new task force is intended to be an investigative arm
of the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force formed by President Obama earlier
this year. The Eastern District’s news release indicated that the new task force
is “[d]esigned to be operational [and] is focused on facilitating the exchange
of information on specific investigations.” Virginia Attorney General Ken
Cuccinelli echoed this sentiment, adding, “This partnership presents a
tremendous opportunity to share information and resources among the experts in
order to prosecute and deter fraud perpetrated against our citizens.” MacBride
did not disclose any current investigations being pursued by the new task force,
but promised that aggressive civil and criminal investigations were on the way.

This announcement comes as no surprise on the heels of MacBride’s
widely-reported announcements over the last several months concerning the
expansion of his office’s capabilities to tackle financial crime. Among other
things, he has re-named his fraud unit the “Financial Crimes Unit,” assigned a
number of new supervisors and added additional attorneys with corporate fraud
experience.

The new task force will enhance the Eastern District’s ability to prosecute
major national securities fraud cases, putting it in line with the Southern
District of New York, which has historically been the most prominent venue for
these types of cases. Importantly, the Eastern District is able to claim
jurisdiction over almost all securities fraud and other financial fraud cases
involving public companies because the reports those companies are required to
file with the SEC are sent to the EDGAR computer server located in Alexandria,
Va. “The Eastern District of Virginia has the legal authority to bring cases
here with national significance, regardless of where the fraud occurs,” MacBride
said.

Known as the “rocket docket” because its judges push cases forward on an
extremely expedited schedule, and armed with new prosecutors with financial
expertise, the Eastern District is poised to prosecute these high-profile
financial fraud cases quickly and expertly.

McGuireWoods’ Government, Regulatory and Criminal Investigations Department
has extensive experience handling all aspects of white collar criminal
investigations and prosecutions. Our attorneys, many of whom are former federal
prosecutors, including a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of
Virginia, have a deep understanding of the rocket docket and a unique capacity
to assist clients that face jeopardy in those courthouses.